Hi Ben
I used 1&1 when I first started with my websites many many moons ago LOL, I transferred to a company called first call hosting who were taken over by blackfoot hosting and can honestly say I've never had any probs with them.
Support is available 24 hours a day and when I have had to submit a ticket (which is not very often) it's replied to well withing the time parameters they set out, (usually within a couple of hours, quicker if it's urgent)
I'd definatly recommend taking a look at the packages they offer altho i'm not entirely sure how much they charge for their dedicated servers tho
www.blackfoot.co.uk is the addy
ally